We have been referencing the article
"DNS: DNS servers on <adapter name> should include their own IP addresses on their interface lists of DNS servers"
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd378900%28WS.10%29.aspx but there are some parts that are a bit confusing. In particular is this statement
"The inclusion of its own IP address in the list of DNS servers improves performance and increases availability of DNS servers. However, if the DNS server is also a domain
controller and it points only to itself for name resolution, it can become an island and fail to replicate with other domain controllers. For this reason, use caution when configuring the loopback address on an adapter if the server is also a domain controller.
The loopback address should be configured only as a secondary or tertiary DNS server on a domain controller.”
The paragraph switches from using the term "its own IP address" to "loopback" address. This is confusing becasuse technically they are not the same. Loppback addresses are 127.0.0.1 through 127.255.255.255. The resolution section then
goes on and adds the "loopback address" 127.0.0.1 to the list of DNS servers for each interface.
In the past we always setup DCs to use their own IP address as the primary DNS server, not 127.0.0.1. Based on my experience and reading the article I am under the impression we could use the following setup.
Primary DNS: Locally assigned IP of the DC (i.e. 192.168.1.5)
Secondary DNS: The assigned IP of another DC (i.e. 192.168.1.6)
Tertiary DNS: 127.0.0.1
I guess the secondary and tertiary addresses could be swapped based on the article. Is there a document that provides clearer guidance on how to setup the DNS server list properly on Windows 2008 R2 DC/DNS servers? I have seen some other discussions
that talk about the pros and cons of using another DC/DNS as the Primary. MS should have clear guidance on this somewhere.